Alvaro de Bazan

Alvaro de Bazan, Marques de Santa Cruz (12 December 1526-9 February 1588) was a Spanish admiral who served in the Habsburg-Ottoman War and the Portuguese Succession War. He won the 1571 Battle of Lepanto and the 1582 Battle of the Azores.

Biography
Alvaro de Bazan, the Marques de Santa Cruz, followed in the footsteps of his father, who commanded the Spanish Mediterranean fleet. The future marques saw his first naval combat at the age of 18 and, by the 1560s, had risen to command of the important Spanish galley fleet in Naples, which he worked up to a high standard of efficiency and discipline. When a Christian force headed for the eastern Mediterranean under Don John of Austria in 1571, Santa Cruz commanded the reserve squadron. He consistently advocated an aggressive approach, arguing in favor of seeking battle with the Ottoman fleet. In the great encounter at Lepanto his contribution was decisive. He fed his reserves into battle at crucial moments, first to prevent a collapse of the Venetians on the Christian left and then to support the center at the climax of the fight. These timely interventions allowed the Christian fleet to carry the day.

A Shift of Focus
In 1582, Santa Cruz was entrusted with suppressing a French-backed multinational fleet gathering in the Azores to contest Spanish control of Portugal. He won a famous victory with a numerically inferior force, raising his prestige considerably. A fine administrator as well as a skilled tactician, Santa Cruz started to build and equip a fleet that he intended to lead in an invasion of England. After long delays, the Armada was almost ready when Santa Cruz died. His leadership was to be sorely missed.